Interestingly, the 8th edition of the GT Bank Annual autism Conference which kicked off yesterday ended well with expectations of stakeholders met when they converge at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos on Wednesday, July 18th,2018.

Several health care and medical experts, care givers, teachers, proprietors of special need centers, parents and even children living with autism exchanged information about what autism is all about and the role of the family and the community.



how it can be managed as well as the role play of everyone directly or indirectly affected by the health disorder. And to say that many left fulfilled having gained loads of information would be simply putting it mildly.

Starting off the conference which began on Tuesday July 17th was the representative of the Lagos State government, Joyce Onafowokan, an Early Intervention Expert and a Special Adviser to Governor Ambode on Social Development, who in her address reiterated the fact the Lagos State was the only state out of the 36 states of Nigeria, taking the issue of Autism serious. According to her, not only has the government issued a directive for Lagos State University Teaching Hospital to carry out extensive research on autism and collate data on children with special needs in the state, she disclosed that the state government was already concluding plans to provide centers for children with special needs. In addition, knowing how difficult it is for people with special needs to become gainfully employed, the state government, Onafowokan said, is already blazing the trail in the aspect by providing employment opportunities for them.

peaking on the strength of collaboration in raising a child was the director of Patrick Speech and languages Center, Dotun Akandewho is also an Advance Certified Autism Specialist. She broke down the different roles of everyone in the society (directly or indirectly) involved in the life of a child living with ASD and how everyone should work hand-in-hand to achieve a common goal of ensuring that children living with autism are given the necessary support needed to thrive in the society. While outlining how the collaboration should be done; through education, autism conferences and consultation, autism outreach, research among educators and health practitioners, researches conducted in hospitals, she didn’t fail to mention that collaborations would come with challenges as with everything one sets out to achieve. However, with the vision at the back of everyone’s mind, a greater good will be achieved.

In her presentation, United States based Camille Proctor, an executive director of The Coloyr of Autism Foundation, chose to use her situation to drive home her point. With an autistic child who was diagnosed with autism at 18 months, she was forced to learn about self advocacy as a way to create awareness about the disorder starting with her immediate environment. She encouraged parents to be their special needs children’s best advocates as well as seeking out ways to make a life a more pleasurable experience for their children.

Most often, many mistake autism for mental illness with even medical practitioners, in some cases giving wrong assessment and diagnosis. This Dr Maymunah Kadir, a psychiatrist and the medical director of Pinnacle Medical Services attempted to clarify in her presentation while speaking on the role of mental health in the community. While not ruling out the fact that some autistic children do come down with some symptoms of mental health challenge, she pointed out that experts in mental health should be open to collaborating with each other when making assessments on patients rather than assuming they know it all when in actual fact they may not. She advised medical practitioners in various fields to stick to their calling and not try to dabble into areas that are not their areas of core competence.

There was a panel discussion among health providers on dealing with seizure and other health challenges associated with autism. Among the panelists were a speech therapist, a nutritionist, a pediatrician, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, all of who took turns to highlight on these challenges associated with autism and how well to manage them. To round off the first day of the conference was a session where parents spoke about the challenges of raising a child living with autism.

In all, the GT Bank sponsored 8th Annual Autism Conference was as enlightening as it was emotional. It is instructive to note that Annual Autism Programme was born out of the Orange Ribbon Initiative, an initiative created by GT bank in 2009 to support people with developmental disabilities and special needs. Autism was chosen to be their area of focus due to their concern for people who suffer stigmatization and get very little support in the society.


http://www.saharaweeklyng.com/gtb-raises-hope-children-adults-living-autism-8th-annual-conference/

Overthinking leads to negative thoughts.

Sirpaul:
Overthinking leads to negative thoughts.

Your point being?!

Good of GTB to sponsor such.

Makes me remember the Korean TV series "The good doctor".


There's hope for people with autism.

GTbank is always representing...
Keep up the good work

Nice one. Gtb is always trying when it comes to giving back to the society.

Sirpaul:
Overthinking leads to negative thoughts.

This means what?

This reminds me of the Indian movie,,,,,

My Name is KHAN.

Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I am not a ________.

If you also watched the movie, kindly fill the gap.

Autism



see my signature

makes me remember the movie "The Crossing"

Great work by GTB. I was following them on social media and it was amazing. I have a cousin with Autism and I know how it feels. Their care givers need support as well as Autistic child/Adult.

Sure

Good job GTB

GTB should build a special school for autistic children, that is more like it.
That is more like CSR than the conferences which only seeks to enlighten .

GTB weldone with the autism project but please refund me my money, wrongfully debited at the ATM getting to a month now, i know how much the cash would av generated for me by now.

opribo:
GTB should build a special school for autistic children, that is more like it.
That is more like CSR than the conferences which only seeks to enlighten .

Thank you for this! we(family) attended the one of last year but didn't learn anything different from what we already knew.

We appeal for affordable standard special schools.

SIR0:
This reminds me of the Indian movie,,,,,
My Name is KHAN.
Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I am not a ________.
If you also watched the movie, kindly fill the gap.

A terrorist

SIR0:
This reminds me of the Indian movie,,,,,
My Name is KHAN.
Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I am not a ________.
If you also watched the movie, kindly fill the gap.

terrorist

Gtb should eff off, they should go and pay Innosun . Thieves.

Gtbank.........it all begins with oo0o00o0o0o0 *737*. Ever since i started banking with gtb,they've been d best in every aspect(as least de re beta than some buharistic herdsmandic banks). I no call name o

Can someone pls explain better to me about Autusm, i only know they have less social skills.

k

Lilknight:
Can someone pls explain better to me about Autusm, i only know they have less social skills.

a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.

gurunlocker:
Makes me remember the Korean movie "The good doctor".


There's hope for people with autism.

Don't think dat, the good doctor is a Korean movie,its not,abi it's not the same the good doctor we re talk about cos mine is a TV series

NinaJoy:

Don't think dat, the good doctor is a Korean movie,its not,abi it's not the same the good doctor we re talk about cos mine is a TV series

Yeah, I am talking about the TV series. Park si on!

gurunlocker:


Yeah, I am talking about the TV series. Park si on!

Oh its not the same series den,,d one I'm taking about is an English TV series and the name is The good doctor and he has autism too.